Climbing device for poles and the like



Nov. 8, 1966 R. c. MERZ ETAL CLIMBING DEVICE FOR POLES AND THE LIKE 5Sheets-Sheet 11 Filed June 10, 1965 /n zren 7 0 F5 77/66 ard ar/o 7/crjZ Jim: MM

Nov. 8, 1966 R. c. MERZ ETAL 3,283,352

CLIMBING DEVICE FOR POLES AND THE LIKE Filed June 10, 1965 5Sheets-Sheet 2 fi/c/zakd Far/o 71/6 ZQW/ .727/76 Nov. 8, 1966 R. c. MERZETAL 3,233,352

CLIMBING DEVICE FOR POLES AND THE LIKE Filed June 10, 1965 5Sheets-Sheet 5 25 Fig. 6 W11 27 1 men 750/4 United States Patent3,283,852 CLIMBING DEVICE FOR POLES AND THE LIKE Richard Carlo Merz, 30Burgstockstrasse, and Karl Jans, 13 Molitorstrasse, both of Bad Waldsee,Wurttemberg, Germany Filed June 10, 1965, Ser. No. 469,027 9 Claims.(Cl. 182-92) This invention relates to a climbing device for poles,masts, smokestacks, and the like, and more particularly to a laddersection or ladder component of such a climbing device. The presentapplication is a continuation-in-part of application Serial No. 163,424,filed January 2, 1962, now abandoned.

There is a frequent need for climbing, for instance, electric light,telephone and telegraph poles for installing and repairing linesthereon. Such work, in addition to calling for a person to ascend anddescend, often requires cables to be temporarily suspended, and variousobjects to be temporarily held in readiness, on the poles.

Climbing devices of the referred type are known. They are used in formof sectional ladders. The sections are applied individually to a poleand at a suitable distance one above the other. The known devices havethe disadvantage that their sections cannot be locked securely to thepole or post and that there is often the danger that an individualsection may tilt, which could endanger a worker standing on therespective section or lead to an undesired spilling of objects held inthe section.

The primary object of our invention is to generally improve sectionalladders, and especially to simplify their construction and to renderthem more economical and safer.

One object of the present invention is to provide a com ponent of asectional ladder, which has a step part that will be braced against thepole in a horizontal position below the ordinarily usedcomponent-supporting strap means so that a person standing on thecomponent, or any load on the component, will not merely be supported bythe strap but also, to a considerable extent, by the pole itself.

Another object of the invention is to provide a ladder component thestep part of which is braced against the pole at more than a singlepoint so that horizontal turning of the step part is precluded.

Still other objects of the invention center about a section-al ladderwhich is reliable in every respect, and each component of which is made'of an integral whole and includes, according to one aspect of theinvention, guide means for wires or the like.

Further objects will be apparent from the following portion of thisspecification.

Broadly, the invention provides a component of a sectional ladder orclimbing device for poles and the like, which comprises elongatedpliable strap means that is to be laid [around a pole and the like. Thestrap means includes resilient means and has two ends. The laddercomponent of the invention comprises further a mechanism to tighten thestrap means and to lock same in the tightened condition, and rung means.The tightening and locking mechanism includes a lever member, arm meansconnected to one of the ends of the strap means, and an arresting memberconnected either directly or indirectly to the other of the strap meansends. The arresting member has the lever member pivotally connectedthereto and permits the lever member to be swung from a strap meanstightening and locking position into a strap means unlocking andreleasing position and vice versa. The forme of these two positions isthe operative position in which the ladder component may actively beused, and the latter of the two positions is the inoperative position.The arresting member is provided with fixing means for releasablyholding the arm means in the operative position of the tightening andlocking mechanism.

The specification is accompanied by drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary plan View of a ladder component, embodyingfeatures of our invention, of a climbing device, a pole to which theladder component is applied being fragmentarily shown in section;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of the ladder component of FIG. 1, therebeing only a difference in the lengths of the strap means shown;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of a modified form of a laddercomponent of the invention, showing the tightening and locking mechanismof the component in unlocked condition; I

FIG. 4 shows the same modification as FIG. 3 in locked condition; and

FIGS. 5 and 6 are a side elevation and front elevation, respectively, ofthe component of FIGS. 3 and 4.

Referring to the drawings in greater detail now, and initially to FIGS.1 and 2, the ladder component shown is one of any number that may beused to climb up and down a pole and the like. Each component includesan elongated pliable strap that is laid around a pole 2 to support whatwill be referred to as a tightening and locking mechanism and as rungmeans. The tightening and looking mechanism will be called brieflylocking mechanism, The strap consists of a chain 1 and a tension spring5. The latter terminates in two hooks and is fastened to one end of thechain 1 by a hook 3.

The locking mechanism includes a lever 6, an arm 9, and an arrestingmember 17. The arm 9 is shown as a closed loop which is fastened to thespring 5 by a hook 3a and passes through a hole 30 in the lever 6. Thelever 6 and arm 9 are, thus, pivotally connected to each other at 30.The lever 6 is pivotally connected to the arresting member or arrestingplate 17 at 16, and the arresting plate 17 is at one of its ends as at31 fastened to the other end of the chain 1 and is provided with a.notch 18 in its peripheral edge.

The rung means which is generally designated 32 consists of a step part8, a mounting part including two rods 12 and a bracing part alsoincluding two rods, the latter being designated 13. These parts togetherform a basketlike structure. The step part 8 is formed by a crosswiseextending rod 8a and two rods 8b extending from the cross-rod 8a towardthe pole. The mounting rods 12 extend from the inner ends of the rods 8bupwardly, and the bracing rods 13 converge from the ends of the crossrod8a upwardly and in directions toward the pole. Each of the two bracingrods is shown in FIG. 1 to contact the upper end of one of the mountingrods 12. A plate 25 is another part of the rung means. Connected withthe plate 25 for instance, by welding, are the plate 17 and end portionsof the mounting rods 12 and bracing rods 13.

The function of the ladder unit or component of FIGS. 1 and 2 is asfollows: i

The chain 1 is laid around the pole 2 with the coiled spring 5 as a.part thereof. The locking means and rung means are connected with eachother, as has been indicated, by means of the plates 25 and 17, thelatter being a part of the locking means, and the chain at one endthereof is permanently connected to the plate 17 at 31 while the spring5 is releasably connected either to the chain at 3 or to the arm 9 at3a. The spring 5 may also be releasable both at 3 and 3a. If the chainis laid around the pole while the spring 5 suspends immediately from anend of the chain, the arm 9 together with the lever 6 and the rung meanssuspend normally from the other chain end. If the chain is being mountedaround the pole, and the spring 5-does not hang immediately from a chainend, then the spring, arm 9, lever 6, and rung means are all suspendedfrom 'one and the same end of the chain.

Depending on which end of the spring is free when the ladder componenthas been laid around the pole, connection is made either at 3 or 3a. Thelever 6 which in the open condition of the locking means is in aposition similar to the lever position shown in FIG. 3 will now be swunginto the position shown in FIG. 1, which is similar to the leverposition in FIG. 4. The lever 6 is turned about the pivot 16 to a pointat which a bight of the arm 9 engages the notch 18 in the arrestingplate 17. The locking mechanism is an over-center type of lock so thatthe hand lever 6 when turned beyond its pivot causes the arm 9 to remainlocked in the notch 18. An additional locking help is afforded by a head15 of the pivot pin 16 (see FIG. 6) which can be bypassed when the lever6 is forced into its locking position. When in its locking position, thelever 6 is helped by the head of the pivot pin 16, acting as anabutment, to stay in the locking position.

As the lever 16 is moved into its closing position, it tightens thestrap around the pole. If a strap is used that is longer than necessaryin a given case, any excess length of the chain may be dealt with as isshown in FIG. 2. The end link of the overlong chain may be hung on a bar22.

The embodiment of FIGS. 3 to 6 differs from that of FIGS. 1 and 2 mainlyby added bracket means. On the side of the rung means facing the pole 2,there are bracing brackets which consist of an upper part 19 (best seenin FIGS, 3 and 4) and a lower part 19a (FIGS. 5 and 6), these partsbeing U-shaped when viewed in plan. The bight of the upper part 19 isshown to lean against an arresting plate 17v The two bracket parts 19,1911 are connected by welding to a step part 8', a mounting rod 12', andbracing rods 13, and to each other by uprights 23 near the pole 2 and bythe mounting rod 12' remote from the pole 2. The plate 17 is connectedto both the upper bracket part 19 and the mounting rod 12'.

Two tension springs 5' rather than a single spring 5 are substantiallyparallel to each other and are hooked at one end into an arm 9' which isyoke-shaped (see FIG. 6) and is provided with outwardly and oppositelybent end portions 10. Each of the springs 5 is connected to one of theend portions 10' by a hook 3a. A plate 11 having fastened thereto thesprings 5 carries a hook 3' to be hooked into a link on one of the endsof the chain 1. a

The rung basket according to FIGS. 3 to 6 has again two lateral rods 13'which are welded to the rear of a vertical plate 25' and thus are bracedagainst the bracket 9, 9a and indirectly also against twocircumferentially spaced points of the pole 2. Any load on the rungbasket appears distributed over a portion of the circumference of thepole, which prevents slipping or sliding on the pole.

The ladder component of FIGS. 3 to 6 is similarly applied to a pole, andfunctions similarly, as the component of FIGS. 1 and 2. The yoke-shapedarm 9 acts as the closed loop arm 9 does, and the two springs 5 act asthe single spring 5. The brackets 19, 19a serve bracing purposes mosteffectively by being supported at two circumferentially spaced points ofthe pole, and have the advantage of freely holding a rope and the likein place. While a rope 24 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 is held in place andprevented from coiling around the pole or from becoming tangled in anyother way, it can easily be pulled upwardly or lowered along a straightline.

It is believed that the construction and operation of our sectionalladder, and the many advantages thereof, will be fully understood fromthe foregoing detailed description. Some of the features and advantagesof the invention are pointed out and reviewed hereinafter.

Our sectional ladder may advantageously be used for climbing any kind ofround pole, such as wooden and concrete poles, masts, columns,smokestacks, etc. In-

dividual ladder components may be also used to support temporarily toolsand other objects which are required while a particular work is carriedout on the pole.

The step part of the rung basket as shown is braced against the polewithin a horizontal plane below the strap tightened around a pole andthe like so that the weight of a person standing on the basket, or anyother load placed upon the basket, will not be merely supported by thestrap but also, to a considerable extent, by the pole. The inventionprovides further that the bracing means of the rung basket engage thepole at at least two circuinferentially spaced points within ahorizontal plane (see FIGS. 1, 3, and 4). Any load applied upon a unitof the sectional ladder acts in the closing direction of the lockingmechanism and thus increases the locking action and acts towardpreventing an accidental unlocking.

In order to relieve the strap of a ladder unit as much as possible ofits load, we provide that the distance, for instance, between thecrossrod 8a of the step part of FIGS. 1 and 2 and the strap be greaterthan the distance between the center of the crossrod 8a and the pointsat which the crossrod and the bnacing rods 13 meet.

Generally, it is preferable, although not essential, to provide a pairof springs rather than a single spring. FIGS. 5 and 6 show two parallelsprings 5 to be connected to a common connecting plate 10. If twosprings are used, it is also possible to interpose a spring between eachchain end and the locking mechanism. Two springs next to each otherincrease the safety of the attachment of the ladder component, while theuse of a spring at each spring end facilitates the movement of thesprings during tightening of the strap involved.

Various materials may be used for the part of the strap, which is shownas a chain, for instance, a metal cable, a rope made of hemp or thelike. It is generally advisable to give the strap a length which issubstantially in accordance with the circumference of the kind of poleto which the sectional ladder is usually to be applied. However, thestrap may be made of greater length than necessary in a particular caseso as to be usable in other cases as well. The free end portion of thechain beyond the link into which the hook 3 is inserted (FIG. 2) may bestrapped around the rung basket, and the end link of the free endportion hung on a short bar 22. In FIG. 6, an excess length of chain isdesignated 20 and provided with a hook 21 to be conveniently hooked in asuitably located chain link. Excess length provides added safetyinasmuch as the chain will even in the event of a breakage of the lockor the springs remain on the pole.

While in the embodiments of FIGS. 1, 2 and FIGS. 3 to 6 the chain isshown to be connected at one end to the arresting plate 17 and 17,respectively, the chain may as well be connected to the plate 25.

The chain of FIGS. 1 and 2 consists of parallel-sided links, and thechain of FIGS. 3 to 6 is made of twisted links. Twisted links have anadvantage over parallelsided smooth links since each link engages a polein several points and thus exerts a better gripping action. When appliedto an ice-coated pole, the contacting points of twisted links bite muchmore frequently through the ice and int-o the surface of the pole. Withparallel-sided links, only every other link engages the pole.

The head 15 of the pivot pin 16 affords an added action to that of thelocking mechanism.

It will be apparent that while we have shown and described our inventionin a few forms only many changes and modifications may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention defined in the followingclaims.

We claim:

1. A component of a sectional ladder for poles and the like, comprising(a) elongated pliable strap means to be laid around a pole and the like,including resilient means, said strap means having two ends,

(b) a mechanism to tighten said strap means and to lock same in thetightened condition, said mechanism including (1) a lever member,

(2) arm means connected to one of said ends,

and

(3) an arresting member connected at least indirectly to the other ofsaid ends, said arresting member having said lever member pivotallyconnected thereto, said lever member being adapted to be swung from anoperative or a strap means tightening and locking position into aninoperative or a strap means unlocking and releasing position, and viceversa, said arresting member having holding means for releasably holdingsaid arm means in said operative position, and

(c) rung means fixedly connected to said arresting member, said rungmeans having a step part, said step part, with the ladder component inoperative condition, being disposed so as to be below said straptightening mechanism.

2. In the ladder component according to claim 1, said arm means and saidarresting member having complementary locking means including saidholding means, and being arranged so that said arm means and saidarresting member are interlocked when said lever member is in saidoperative position.

3. In the ladder component according to claim 2, said arresting memberbeing formed as a plate having a peripheral edge and a notch in saidedge, said arm means and said notch forming said complementary lockingmeans.

4. In the ladder component according to claim 1, said resilient meansbeing constituted by at least a single tension spring interposed betweensaid arm means and the remainder of said strap means.

5. In the ladder component according to claim 1, said rung meansincluding said step part, a mounting part, and a bracing part, said steppart including at least a crosswise extending member, said mounting partincluding at least a single vertically extending member, said bracingpart including two members extending from the ends of said crosswiseextending member upwardly and toward the pole said component is to beapplied to.

6. In the ladder component according to claim 5, the two bracing membersbearing against two circumferentially spaced points on said pole.

7. In the ladder component according to, claim 5, bracket meansincluding an upper part interposed between said pole and said tighteningand locking means, and a lower part interposed between said pole andsaid crosswise extending member, each of said upper and lower partsbearing against two circumferentially spaced points on said pole.

8. In the ladder component according to claim 5, said step part beingbraced against said pole within a horizontal plane below said strapmeans when tightened around said pole.

9. In the ladder component according to claim 5, the distance betweensaid crosswise extending member and said strap means when tightenedaround said pole being greater than the distance between the center ofsaid crosswise extending member and any one of the points at which saidcrosswise extending member and one of the two bracing members meet.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 830,220 9/1906Gibson 254-78 1,231,037 6/1917 McGafiee 182-92 1,950,923 3/1934 Johnson254-78 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,072,523 12/ 1959 Germany.

REINALDO P. MACHADO, Primary Examiner.

1. A COMPONENT OF A SECTIONAL LADDER FOR POLES AND THE LIKE, COMPRISING(A) ELONGATED PLIABLE STRAP MEANS TO BE LAID AROUND A POLE AND THE LIKE,INCLUDING RESILIENT MEANS, SAID STRAP MEANS HAVING TWO ENDS, (B) AMECHANISM TO TIGHTEN SAID STRAP MEANS AND TO LOCK SAME IN THE TIGHTENEDCONDITION, SAID MECHANISM INCLUDING (1) A LEVER MEMBER, (2) ARM MEANSCONNECTED TO ONE OF SAID ENDS, AND (3) AN ARRESTING MEMBER CONNECTED ATLEAST INDIRECTLY TO THE OTHER OF SAID ENDS, SAID ARRESTING MEMBER HAVINGSAID LEVER MEMBER PIVOTALLY CONNECTED THERETO, SAID LEVER MEMBER BEINGADAPTED TO BE SWUNG FROM AN OPERATIVE OR A STRAP MEANS TIGHTENING ANDLOCKING POSITION INTO AN INOPERATIVE OR A STRAP MEANS UNLOCKING ANDRELEASING PORTION, AND VICE VERSA, SAID ARRESTING MEMBER HAVING HOLDINGMEANS FOR RELEASABLY HOLDING SAID ARM MEANS IN SAID OPERATIVE POSITION,AND (C) RUNG MEANS FIXEDLY CONNECTED TO SAID ARRESTING MEMBER, SAID RUNGMEANS HAVING A STEP PART, SAID STEP PART, WITH THE LADDER COMPONENT INOPERATIVE CONDITION, BEING DISPOSED SO AS TO BE BELOW SAID STRAPTIGHTENING MECHANISM.